StyleSpeak: New Decade Resolutions

StyleSpeak: New Decade Resolutions
By Wendell Rodricks


In the pale light of the new decade, Goans will be delighted if a few resolutions are in place to make our lives and the state of Goa a better place to be. And a safer one too. Talking of safety and security, how about Resolution number One.

It would be music to our ears if the Goa Police pulled up its socks and declared “We will not lie, cover up and mislead the Goan people, the nation and international citizens”. As a fashion designer I am embarrassed to be asked after a fashion show by the media about what I think of the Goa Police covering up a rape, murder or video recording of the cadre having sex with a prostitute. Why should any Goan stand up for an obviously undisciplined police force which needs to be put in order? When television stations were chasing me to go live on the evening news explaining the safety of Goa I had half a mind to say “Yes, Goa is unsafe. Please do not holiday here. Let the decline of Goan tourism begin”. Instead it would be better if the Goa police took a New Years resolution to get their act in order and give us what we pay taxes for: Safety and Security.

In the Russian roulette of ministers, I have forgotten who is in charge of which ministry. But whoever is holding the key to the garbage problem should resign this New Year if he or she cannot resolve the issue. For ten years now, we have been screaming hoarse about garbage and there is no plan in place to handle the miniscule amount of garbage spewed by 1.3 million people. Instead of leading the way to show India how we can “do it”, we have become Exhibit ‘A’ for the garbage problem in the country. It is in our fields, villages, stinking cities, murky rivers and now, quite literally, blowing in the wind we breathe.

We pay taxes for many services that are denied to us. Like electricity and proper roads. Instead of taking up these basic issues, we hear talk of a “sea link” between Dona Paula and Vasco. Can the Chief Minister please resolve not to even think of this money gobbling nightmare? Parrikar has been shamed by the concrete pillars of the so called Sky Train. Please! Let’s forget all this talk of a Sea Link. Take care of our garbage, roads and power first.

The most shameful part of the past decade has been the passing of the dreaded Ordinance to save one private hotel’s ego. While everyone places the blame on the Chief Minister, the truth is that not a single MLA opposed this power playing move. Not only was it a disgrace to the justice and legal administrators of this country, it was a gross abuse of the common man. That the government can condone and over rule the interest of Goan justice in one devastating blow is Goa’s shame.

On the other hand one must give credit to two controversial MLA’s in Goa. Love him or loathe him, but Babush Monseratte’s Taleigao is Goa’s best maintained, most beautiful constituency. Each time, one drives through the wide roads, picket lined, clean, green Taleigao, one must give it to Monseratte for a job well done.

As is Vishwajit Rane. The new medical facilities are worthy of standing alongside the best in the world.

Which goes to prove that when Ministers resolve to deliver, the public do not care whatever payoffs they may enjoy.

Someone at IFFI needs to take a similar resolve this 2010. Make the ESG (Entertainment Society of Goa) a truly democratic authority with no private, vested interests. Put people in place where there is more direction and focus. Each year, I hear criticisms from famous film personalities who bemoan the mess and the waste of a multi crore budget. How can one not have a problem when most people on the ESG have no clue about films? More keen to direct revenue to their own businesses, IFFI should disband the ESG and start afresh. It is only then that we can believe the “as good as Cannes” line we hear each year.

When Shrinivas Dempo sold his mines last year, it sent shockwaves in the mining industry. But Dempo himself is a serene man now; blissfully content and looking ten years younger at the weight of mining lifted off his shoulder. Maybe the CM, the Police and vested Ministers can take a clue from Dempo’s smile and resolve to stop illegal mines and ruining the face of some truly legal mining families in Goa.

It took under a decade for Goa to loose one of its best and most lucrative beach. Candolim beach does not exist any more. All the hotels and homes on that belt should join together and resolve to solve this situation. The dreaded River Princess just has to go. We do not need to take another decade over the matter.

And finally, all of us Goans need to make some resolutions for our beloved Goa. Instead of obsessing about matters as insane as the infidelity of the Tiger Woods, we need to stop becoming spectators of the decay, the mundane, the banal and the macabre. We all need to resolve this 2010 to work for a better Goa In the next decade. A happy, healthy, uncorrupt, safe, garbage free, power uninterrupted, social amenity worthy, progressive Goa this 2010! (ENDS)

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First published in Goa Today - January 2010